The successor to the Nokia 3 is in the works

HMD unveiled the Nokia 3—alongside the Nokia 5 and 6—back in February 2017. The company is set to launch the successor to that device anytime now, with a tweet by popular tipster Roland Quandt confirming the existence of such a device.

HMD already released the Nokia 6 (2018)—Nokia 6.1 in the global market—as a direct successor to the first generation Nokia 6, so it looks like the company is keen on following that pattern, at least with its main line of devices. The new device will be called the Nokia 3.1, if the source is anything to be believed.

The Nokia 3 is notorious for being the only HMD device to feature a MediaTek chipset. MediaTek SoCs are known for being unfriendly towards development, and the Nokia 3 was no different. The company had issues sending out the Nougat 7.1 update to the device—and ultimately skipped it altogether. That considered, it’s unlikely the Nokia 3.1 will be powered by a MediaTek chipset. A lower end Snapdragon processor is likelier.

Meanwhile, HMD has released kernel sources for the first-gen Nokia 3. The device joins the Nokia 1, Nokia 6, and Nokia 8 on the scanty podium of HMD devices with publicly accessible kernel sources. Of course, bootloaders remain locked, but that’s a story for another day.